


Five Dates Arthur Really Hated, and One He Really Didn't

by Tamasha



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Dates, Blind Date, Closeted Character, Dating, F/M, First Dates, Gay, Love, Love at First Sight, M/M, Modern Era, One Shot, Relationship(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 07:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4657395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamasha/pseuds/Tamasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The title says it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Dates Arthur Really Hated, and One He Really Didn't

**Author's Note:**

> written by Tamara

**Date One: Sophia**

 

"She is gorgeous, mate!" Gwaine concluded as the woman walked into the library.  Really, who has a first date at a library?

Gwaine had been trying to set Arthur up with girls for years. He'd know his friend for four years and in that time Arthur had never had a significant other. He just wasn’t interested in girls that way. Maybe he had thought about a few guys that way - like when Leon had slept at his house in sixth grade and Arthur wondered if he would come up on Arthur’s bed in the night. But truthfully, not many people held Arthur's attention for very long.

He had met Gwaine at his father's company. Gwaine hated his job more than Arthur did, but like Arthur, he was forced to be there because of his father. Since they were mostly work friends, Gwaine didn’t know the extent of Arthur’s sexuality, so he assumed he was straight. A fair assumption, but so very false. Though Arthur himself wasn’t sure exactly what he was.

Sophia noticed Gwaine and waved quickly before walking over. She was thin and had long brown hair that went past her shoulders. She was very pale save for her dark freckles splattered on her face. She wasn’t gorgeous like Gwaine had said, but she wasn't entirely awful either.

"Sophia," she chirped as she held out a dainty hand.

Arthur scowled at Gwaine, not at all caring about what that would look like to poor Sophia. "I can’t do this." He turned politely to the woman and gave her a regretful smile. "I'm sorry."

  


**Date Two: Gwen**

 

So Arthur was pretty sure everyone in his life was conspiring against him. Not only was Gwaine nagging him every day at work, but on weekends, Arthur didn’t hear an end to it from Morgana. His sister at least had the courtesy to suggest male suitors as well, she just did so shamelessly in front of their father at dinner. There was no way Arthur was going to out himself to his father before he even understood his own sexuality. But when Morgana suggested her old friend Gwen, Arthur felt a distant nostalgia for the girl he once knew. He wondered if his childhood relationship with her could possibly bloom into something more now that they were both adults. He figured he had nothing to lose.

On the date, Arthur had acted the part of a true gentleman. They went ice skating and got hot dogs afterwards. They called it an early night, so Arthur walked her to her flat well before eight. At the door, she looked at him expectantly. He knew what she wanted, but he just couldn't do it. Instead, Arthur gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and said, "It was nice to see you again, you are like a sister to me."

Moving away instinctively, as he watched her face twist into confusion, Arthur nodded curtly before turning away. Walking down the stairs of her building, Arthur knew he should feel something more than relief, but he couldn’t find anything else within himself. He went home and watched TV, thinking about how he just wished he could feel something for anyone.

  


**Date Three: Elena**

 

It wasn’t even a date. Lance was now in on Gwaine’s game of finding Arthur a date - nearly the whole office was at this point. She showed up at a Christmas office party and sat next to Arthur the whole time. Her messy blonde hair kept falling distractingly in her face all night. She smelled like a burnt oven - Arthur wasn’t sure if that was an entirely accurate description, but it was what he stuck with. To be polite, Arthur nodded occasionally and offered her short responses, but he was tense the whole time. Finally, she left him alone after Lance distracted her with the food table. She was an animal.

"Sorry, I just thought that would be funny, I didn’t actually want to upset you." Lance handed Arthur a Christmas cookie shaped like Santa in the way of a peace offering. With a wry laugh, Arthur accepted it and resorted to watching the party in silence.

On some level, he did want to care about someone in a romantic way, but he also just didn’t want to keep looking. Maybe he wasn’t giving the women he had met enough of a chance. Maybe Arthur had decided he wanted to be alone and therefore had not allowed anyone in. Though parts of that was true, Arthur really felt that if he did meet the right person, he would know right away. As silly as that was, Arthur believed it.

  


**Date Four: Mithian**

 

Because his car was in the shop, Arthur was forced to take the bus to work. It wasn’t a long drive, so his ride would be short, but in that time he met Mithian. She got on the bus only one stop after Arthur, and sat right next to him. They smiled at each other briefly before she shifted into the seat.

"I'm Arthur," he said quickly. "I don’t normally ride the bus."

She didn’t seem interested, which may have been why Arthur was. It wasn’t like one of those you-want-what-you-can't-have kind of deals, it was more of a thank-god-I-don't-have-to-fend-another-one-off kind of deal. After realizing that, Arthur grinned. He wasn’t interested in her, he was just relieved to meet a woman not interested in him. That explained... well, nothing. Arthur had been pretty damn sure he was not interested in women. But was he interested in men?

She offered a hand and they talked about politics till they reached Arthur's stop. It was a good conversation, and as Arthur stood to exit, he felt pretty happy about the whole interaction. "Aren’t you going to ask for my number?" she queried, accusatory.

"Nope," Arthur grinned. His happiness stemmed not from her, but from his realization that he was one step closer to finding himself. "It was nice to meet you."

She looked as relieved as Arthur felt. When he stepped off the bus, after he felt the gust of wind from the doors closing behind him, a small amount of hope rose within Arthur for the first time in a long time.

 

**Date Five: Morgause**

 

"Arthur, I'd like you to meet Morgause La Fey. Her father is a colleague of mine. We went to Cambridge together."

"How do you do." Arthur bowed slightly, eyeing the woman his father was clearly trying to set him up with. "Arthur Pendragon."

She seemed like she had just eaten something sour. "I'm sure." Before turning away, her eyebrows raised in a fashion that made Arthur snort back his laughter. She seemed almost disgusted with him, which he knew he should be offended by, but really wasn't.

Uther was a mess of confusion and hurt pride. Arthur did what he could to look disappointed and sympathetic to his father’s embarrassment, but could only manage a blank stare as the woman walked away. Looking at his father again, Arthur could tell the man had been hoping that the meeting would go well. Uther wanted Arthur to be happy, but the man never seemed to know exactly how to go about making that happen. Arthur offered a smile, which seemed to help Uther some.

Searching the room again, Arthur met Morgana’s eye, who smiled at him as if she had a secret. He noticed she was talking to the blonde woman Uther had just introduced him to. A curiosity sprung up out of nowhere and Arthur had to remind himself he was at a party with their father close by. But Arthur was fairly certain his sister was flirting with the other woman.

That night, Morgana brought over a bottle of bourbon and every gay movie she could get her hands on. "Spill,” she said as soon as she had dropped all the items on his table. "I am not leaving this house till you tell me the truth."

"You too, sister." Arthur winked at the dark-haired woman, holding back a smile unsuccessfully. Morgana smirked slyly and picked up the bottle. Arthur nodded in understanding, and they drank till they had shared way too much with each other.

  


**Date Six: Merlin**

 

Morgana had been right. Arthur would never want to admit that Morgana Pendragon had actually been right, but she simply was, and Arthur was sick of hiding. The game to get him on a date naturally didn’t stop. Knowing Arthur’s sexuality only fuelled the fire for his sister. She went straight to work on finding him a "perfect gay boy" as she so elegantly put it. As much as Arthur wanted to fight it, he was just tired, and decided to let her wear herself out. Soon she would get bored and leave Arthur to find love on his own.

But oh, she was good.

Arthur didn’t know he had a type. He had only let himself figure out he was gay a short time ago, so he hadn't had time to really compare and contrast men. But damn it all, Merlin was definitely his type. From his small frame to his giant ears and back again to his perfect cheekbones, Arthur was fucked. Those beautiful - ah hell, they were absolutely stunning - blue eyes melted his heart as soon as they met his own. Arthur didn’t think he was a sexual person at all; then he met Merlin.

Walking into the coffee shop, after shamelessly checking out his date, Arthur sat across from Merlin and offered his hand casually. "Arthur."

"Merlin!"

"Thank god," Arthur breathed with relief as he remembered this was a blind date and he could have sat across from anyone.

Then Merlin smiled, and Arthur believed in love at first sight. "Good to meet you."

"You don’t even know how good it is to meet you, Merlin."

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this is definitely not one of my best. I liked the idea behind it, but the execution was questionable. I'm not even sure what happened when I wrote it, but it didn't go as I planned. I don’t hate it or anything, I just had planned on writing out each date. I think my problem is that I don't like writing Arthur in any other relationship besides Merlin. Hm. Anyway. Comments are always welcome and thank you for reading.


End file.
